Our roof is originally a thatched one, like most of them in rural areas more than 80 years ago, with the thatch fastened with ropes on a bamboo grid. That was simply covered with tin plates maybe 40 years ago, when the thatch had too many holes and was not watertight any more. Covering it with tin plates is much cheaper than re-thatching ...

When we bought the house 12 years ago, they told us the roof needed repair, so we pondered it ... until two years ago, a typhoon took part of the ridge decoration off.
We asked a carpenter to do some repairs, but he never showed up, until this year, another typhoon got the bottom plates really welded up high in the air ... now this was time to act !

So we asked a different carpenter, who did it all with his crew of two, in the rain, within three days, to make sure the arriving typhoon number 9, already brewing, will not do more harm.

We were really lucky with the weather, forecast for a strong rainy week, but when the carpenters came, there were dry spells and only soft rain in our area, so they could work under their makeshift tents. And we spent two nights without a proper roof, crossing our fingers for the blue sheets to keep in place, with success, so not much rain found its way inside.

They took off all the old wooden grid and the rusty nails, put on a new thicker grid and added the long tin plates with a new method of screwing it tightly on the thick grid. They also re-screwed the ridge decorations and secured the top decoration, so we hope this will last for a while ... and still hope number nine will pass a different route ...

We have not had any strong wind since the repair started, .. thanks GOD ! .. but I have the feeling it has become more quiet in my bedroom, which is just below this roof and has been moaning and groaning in the slightest wind, when the tin plates started vibrating with their loosened rusty nails.